Melbourne’s Ed Langdon has been a success with his ability to hold position and run for a whole game. Photo: AFL MEDIA
If goal-kicking forwards were once the headliners of the VFL/AFL, wingmen were the main support acts.
Maybe you didn’t buy a ticket to see them specifically, but you were bloody glad for the opportunity to do so. The names roll off the tongue – Robbie Flower, Keith Greig, Peter Matera, Robert DiPierdomenico, Doug Hawkins.
And of course, Gary Ablett Snr, before Malcolm Blight grew sick of his inability to make himself useful when the ball wasn’t in his hands and moved him to full forward. A good call in hindsight.
These are greats of the game, and some of the biggest stars of their time. But for years, it hasn’t been so. Coaches were reluctant to use their blue-chip talent lurking on the perimeters, and footy’s fandangled presses and floods didn’t allow for specialist wingmen anyway.
Then there is, of course, the perpetual All-Australian debate. Hawkins lamented current exponents of the position he owned once again being overlooked for recognition last year: “You look at those blokes as your specialist wingman, we’re losing that role because those boys (2021 All-Australian wingers Zach Merrett and Sam Walsh), they haven’t played on the wing,” he said. “It’s just ridiculous.”
Former Footscray champion Doug Hawkins has lamented the lack of genuine wingmen in recent All-Australian teams.
Perhaps footy did move away from the need for pure wingers. But in 2022, the game appears to be seeing a resurgence in the role of the on-field conduit.
Each year, new phrases and terms begin to permeate the footy vernacular (who had ever heard the term “cooler” before this season?) that can help viewers to identify trends in the game as it evolves.
Lately, “holding your width” seems to be in vogue. Essentially, this means wingers are most effective when not getting sucked into the contest, but stationing themselves roughly where they are named on the team sheet and moving in a north/south direction up and down the field. Of course, different stadiums have different confines with which to work – Kardinia Park is limited, whereas Perth Stadium and the MCG offer a paddock to run in.
So why are we seeing this now? There are at least two reasons. First is that the AFL is a copycat league. Clearly, the current “Mr Wing” is Ed Langdon of Melbourne. Langdon, a targeted recruit for this exact role at the end of 2019, has been a raging success at the Demons, with his ability to hold position and run for practically 100 per cent of game time resulting in more rotations for their impact players. He also moves the ball from defence to attack, very much holding his width. Just check out his heatmaps.
Through their premiership years and into today, Richmond has had clearly defined wingmen in Kamdyn McIntosh and first Brandon Ellis, then Marlion Pickett. They are basically never sighted in the middle of the MCG, rarely get more than 20 disposals, and yet have been among the first picked in that time due to their importance to the Tigers’ game plan. And while Hawthorn used Bradley Hill and Isaac Smith for more traditional line-breaking jobs, clearly they were influential in their success.
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The other factor is the changing nature of gameplay, and the types of strategies that are successful in the 2022 version of AFL.
Where the forward press (in simplistic terms, players surging forward when the opposition defence is in possession in order to trap the ball inside their attacking half) was king a decade ago, games are now most often decided on turnover, and the ability to reclaim the footy in defence. In catching opponents on the hop, it is extremely useful to have players stationed on the periphery to mark errant kicks or create an outnumber ahead of the contest.
The knowledge that there is always a man holding their spot on each side of the field also makes players predictable to their teammates should the need for a bailout option arise. This is particularly advantageous as the game becomes faster and more frenetic. Sometimes players don’t have the time or wherewithal to make a good decision with ball in hand, but knowing that their winger is exactly where he’s meant to be gives them a mechanical option.
This also means holding numbers back from the contest, and sometimes conceding a stoppage clearance or two – something that would have seemed an unusual strategy quite recently, but is now a key part of winning the turnover battle.
Further, as Langdon’s achievements have illustrated, running power is more important than ever, with the value of an industrious contributor who can roam the wing all day from defence to attack now almost a necessity.
This season Josh Daicos, Jordan Clark, Errol Gulden, Pickett and Ellis have all staked their claims alongside Langdon as the competition’s kings of the wing. Veteran Cats pair Mitch Duncan and Isaac Smith continue to perform reliably, while Sam Walsh has spent significant minutes there, as he did in his first two seasons.
Two genuine wingmen – Sydney’s Errol Gulden and Richmond’s Kamdyn McIntosh – go head-to-head. Photo: AFL: MEDIA
It’s no coincidence that all bar one of those players’ sides sit in the top eight as at round 18, the exception being Ellis’ Suns, who are at least knocking on the door.
So what of the fraught All-Australian question? When looking at recent seasons, Hawkins’ complaints are validated. Last year, Walsh was named on one wing after having spent just 12 per cent of game time in that position, while Merrett clocked up a paltry four per cent.
Wingmen do not traditionally attend centre bounces – in fact the laws of the game prohibit it – yet in 2020, All-Australian winger Cameron Guthrie attended 56 per cent of centre bounces for Geelong, while Jack Macrae popped in to 74 per cent – just behind teammate Marcus Bontempelli and ahead of all their other highly credentialed midfielders.
The selections in 2019 were even more preposterous, with Tim Kelly named despite totalling less than 10 per cent of time on the wing, and Bontempelli with just over one per cent. They may as well have selected Nic Naitanui at full-back.
There will be no excuses this year. Outside midfielders such as Hugh McCluggage, Bailey Smith, and Connor Rozee will be thrown up for the spots, despite spending the vast majority of their time on-ball. But pure wingers are back, influential, and vital, and there will be ample outstanding performers from whom to pick.
